Applicant has developed a new generation of X-ray systems that implement X-ray sources with more than one electron gun and one or more high voltage anodes within a single vacuum envelope.
The rapid switching of electron guns under electrostatic control enables the fast movement of the effective focal spot of the X-ray tube and the rapid generation of sets of tomographic X-ray scan data without the use of moving parts. By configuring the firing sequence of the electron guns appropriately, an optimal set of X-ray projection data can be collected at rates far higher than in conventional systems.
Accordingly, because Applicant's latest generation X-ray tomography systems are capable of generating very high resolution tomography X-ray data at high speeds, a number of new data acquisition and data transmission and distribution systems are enabled, and/or required, to take full advantage of, and/or optimally manage, these high data rate systems. For example, current storage systems and data transmission networks are unable to effectively transfer high volumes of image data to network of operator workstations without undue delay. Moreover, such delay increases as the number of image generating systems on a network increases and as the number of operators required to analyze images also increases.
Therefore, improved data acquisition, transmission and distribution systems are needed to take full advantage of, and/or optimally manage, high resolution X-ray data generated at high speeds, such as data rates greater than 1 Gbit/second.